Feelings are strong about gun-mental health link

National Rifle Association head Wayne Lapierre was unsparing in his apparent depiction of severe mental illness.

“The truth is that our society is populated by an unknown number of genuine monsters — people so deranged, so evil, so possessed by voices and driven by demons that no sane person can possibly ever comprehend them,” Lapierre said in the wake of Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre.

National Alliance on Mental Illness Minnesota Executive Director Sue Abderholden appears before a House committee. (Photo by T.W. Budig)

Such language grates on the ears of National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Minnesota Executive Director Sue Abderholden.

“To target the folks with mental illness as part of this whole gun debate and violence, isn’t really appropriate,” said Abderholden, a veteran State Capitol operative and familiar figure in committee rooms.

“It further stigmatizes people,” she said.

The connection between mental illness — about one in four adults suffers from a diagnosable mental disorder in a given year, it’s estimated. — and violence is a false connection, Abderholden argues.

Of all violent crime, just five percent is committed by people with mental illness.

“Unfortunately, that’s something we need to keep saying over and over again,” Abderholden said,

“Our top priority now is trying to get money into the children’s mental health system,” said Abderholden, who has a wait-and-see attitude of a veteran lobbyist.

This money well-spent, Abderholden argues.

In terms of gun legislation, NAMI worries about the creation of registries and overly broad definitions.

These could place additional burden on individuals and families trying to cope with mental illness, they argue.

“Putting people into some kind of registry, or increasing the association with mental illnesses and violence makes people all the more hesitant to step forward (to seek help),” NAMI Criminal Justice Director Anna McLafferty said.

“They (parents) would be weighing, ‘Should I bring my kid in for treatment, because they might get into this registry?’”

“Parents should not have to weigh that,” McLafferty said.

In many cases years can go by between the onset of mental illness and someone getting treatment, she said.

And the longer the span, the poorer the treatment outcome, University of Minnesota Department of Psychiatry Chair Dr. Charles Schulz said in a legislative committee.

In part, this delay is attributable to the people suffering from mental illness keeping silent, he said.

“You can’t quite see it from the outside,” Schulz said of the workings of the mind.

But mental illness can also be “horrifying” for families, Schulz said.

He spoke of a parent who used to light a candle and pray by the bed of a child, hoping the voices the child was hearing would go away.

“That’s been a big problem,” Schulz said of the public’s lack of understanding of mental illness.

Tim Burkett, of People Inc., a metro-based mental health group, spoke of the “stigma” of mental illness.